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Asked by Osman A on 5 Jun 2021. This question was also asked by iliana, been134fab, Matthew B, StefiA.
Question: Why did you become an engineer
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Melis Duyar answered on 5 Jun 2021:
I became an engineer because I thought it would give me the skills and flexibility to solve many different kinds of problems. At the time (in high school) I didn’t know exactly what field I wanted to be in and had interests in doing something related to healthcare or energy or space… Chemical engineering is great because it can actually take you in all these directions! I am still looking for interesting problems to solve in these areas and being in a university means I can contribute my skills to larger problems spanning across different subjects.
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Murat Islam answered on 5 Jun 2021:
I always enjoyed disassembling my toys and rebuild them in a different way, so they worked better. My elder brother also liked taking things apart and repair them, so he used some interesting tools that got me very interested. I had some engineer relatives with great lifestyles, and engineers were always well respected in my community. So I decided to be an engineer. I liked computers a lot, so I tried to be a computer engineer, but my marks were only good enough to become a mechanical engineer.
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Manish Labroo answered on 7 Jun 2021:
I tried different things before becoming an engineer. I became an engineer because i wanted to see how the subjects i had studied (like science and maths) get used in our every day life. I loved knowing things as a student, but as an engineer i could use that knowledge to build, repair and maintain things.
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Carys Kelly answered on 7 Jun 2021:
I studied engineering because at school I loved learning about how we can use science and maths in real life – this is basically what engineering is! When I went to uni to study Mechanical Engineering we learned a lot and could apply what we had learned to real life examples like cars, bridges and buildings. I ended up not enjoying Mechanical Engineering as much as I expected, so when I graduated last year I decided to apply to jobs in Technology and ended up working for Sky. This is one of the benefits of an engineering course – it can lead you into so many different career paths!
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Helen Randell answered on 7 Jun 2021:
To help make a difference and because its a job where i use my problem solving skills daily which i really enjoy. I also love how everyday can be completely different and there are so many types of engineering that there is no limit to what areas you can get involved in.
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Emma Crook answered on 8 Jun 2021:
I became an engineer because i like solving problems and building things. although my day to day job doesn’t require me to build things, i solve a lot of problems using maths and i am good at that. when you do any job it’s good to find one that means you spend your day doing things you are good at and enjoy.
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Sophie Dawson answered on 10 Jun 2021:
I wanted to be an engineer because I wanted to be an astronaut when I was little and engineering was one of the career paths that could possibly lead to becoming an astronaut. At school I loved maths and especially physics, and I always enjoyed being hands on with experiments and taking things apart to see how they work. My grandad was an engineer too so it seemed like a good idea to follow in his footsteps.
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Richard Totty answered on 11 Jun 2021:
Hi Osman, I became an engineer, specifically a Civil Engineer, because I have always enjoyed exploring the built environment around me, and digging into the ground around me, to see what was there, or to find ways to build things with the limited resources around me. As a very young child there were many signs for my parents that I might enjoy this profession in later life. I always enjoyed playing in the sand-pit; digging holes in the garden to see what lay beneath my feet (usually Chalk). Then in primary school, my favourite activity on any holidays we took, were visiting historical castles and then using them as inspiration to build my own sand castles or when I got a bit older, attempting to dam a stream on a beach at low tide. These got more elaborate and larger and larger, as I got older and I would often involve the help of my little brother and sometimes my father. As I got a bit older, building LEGO sets and my own creations (a hobby I still enjoy as a 40 year old!). Now in my current job, I have helped repair one of the largest water reservoir dams in the USA and helped to construct some of the most complex of tunnelling projects in the UK!
It is always a great feeling of achievement to be able to walk across the top of a repaired dam, after it has been safely re-filled to its top level, or walk through an underground tube tunnel and point to a structure and say to whomever I am with, ‘I helped to repair/ or build that structure’.
So I am inspiring other people around me, about what I do as an engineer and that is a very rewarding thing to do.
Now as a mentor for people within my team and to undergraduate Civil Engineering students and to students such as yourself, through initiatives like I’m An Engineer, or through other STEM ambassador activities, I get immense satisfaction from inspiring you and other inquiring minds like yours to consider a future in Engineering.
The most important feeling in the world for me, is the sense of accomplishment from seeing a job well done, and also the sense of pride in inspiring other people, like you. -
Ruth McKinlay answered on 17 Jun 2021:
In short: I enjoy solving problems! I love knowing how things work and how to fix them
I like to look at something difficult and try and fix it with team work, and that’s exactly what my job entails. If you like working with friends to solve things and explore, you would probably enjoy my job too! -
Chloe James answered on 23 Jun 2021: last edited 23 Jun 2021 1:11 pm
I became an engineer because I absolutely loved maths and aircraft when I was younger! I didn’t always want to be an engineer, I wanted to be an astronaut! But then I joined the Air Cadets and I was shown how exciting a career in engineering could be. There’s so much variety in engineering so I had lots of options to consider, even if I couldn’t fly in a rocket.
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Caroline Roche answered on 26 Jun 2021:
It happened to be what someone who did the job I wanted to do was called. I studied physics at univeristy and just assumed when I finished I would be a scientist. But I really enjoyed working on control systems which fell into the engineering realm and so I became an engineer.
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Tommy Shinton answered on 1 Jul 2021:
To begin with it was because, while I was quite good at maths in school – I still found it a bit boring when the numbers didn’t mean anything. I enjoyed physics because that meant more, but still wasn’t quite real. So Engineering uses the skills of maths, and the principles of physics along with a bit of creativity to design new things and change the world.
Here are some of my reasons I like being an engineer now –
1. It’s rewarding to use the skills you’ve learned to solve problems that area real – so the thing you fix or the idea you come up with will help people and can make a difference to the world.
2. I enjoy working with a team – sometimes quite a big team – on a range of different types of projects – just about every day is different for me – I could be working on a small project in Glasgow or a multi-million pound new city in Saudi Arabia – or often both in the same week!
3. It’s a career that’s constantly changing, with new challenges and new innovations and that’s exciting. Just now there is a big focus on how we adapt to climate change and reduce emissions – it’s a big challenge but good to think we could help shape that.
Comments
Katie commented on :
I loved physics at school more than any subject, and studied it at university. I became an engineer because I love being able to use science and maths to solve problems and help understand how everything works. There are so many different types of engineering and I work with people with all different backgrounds in my job
Chloe commented on :
I became an engineer as I always loved maths and solving problems. I originally wanted to be an astronaut but I suffer from motion sickness so flying into space wouldn’t be good for me. My next option was engineering as it meant I could still work on exciting projects, without feeling sick!